05-19-2014, 11:28 PM
My first bike after 25 years was a 2008 Suzuki GS500F. With barely 100 miles on the odometer, I made a shaky left turn in my yard and unceremoniously dropped it. The 3 mph crash pushed the left front turn signal through the fairing. Not an auspicious restart to motorcycling. Not one week later it was time for 600 mile service. I told myself not to crash, “you won’t crash”, as I prepared to ride up a ramp onto a flat trailer. And of course I stalled it 3/4th of the way up the ramp and came crashing down, this time with a few scratches to the engine case, mirror and exhaust pipe.